ENTREPRENEURS and investors dream about exits, but most Singapore startups seem to only want to tackle the B2C (business-to-consumer) market, ignoring the lucrative B2B (business-to-business) market growing under their noses.

B2B startups occupy a niche in the island-republic’s startup scene, despite the fact that a horde of multinational corporations house their Asia Pacific regional headquarters here.

And if you’re cybersecurity startup, that’s a niche within a niche. Here’s another layer: If you’re cybersecurity startup specialising in the esoteric field of identity and access management (IAM) solutions, then you’re really operating in a niche within a niche, within yet another a niche.

And if all that sounds like it makes poor business sense, think again: In the approximately four years since its founding in 2012, Singapore IAM startup Deep Identity has not only established operations across Asia, Europe and the Middle East; it just got acquired too, though for an undisclosed sum.

That acquisition by Trusted Source, a subsidiary of Temasek Management Services, last November gave the startup a fairy-tale ending. Temasek Management Services is a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Singapore Government.

Deep Identity had previously received funding under the Technology Incubation Scheme operated by Singapore’s National Research Foundation, which has exited the startup with the acquisition.

IAM is essentially about ensuring the right people get access to the right kind of information they are entitled to, from the right device and the right location.

Finding a fit within the IAM space must have seemed a bit of a stretch for a startup, but it was precisely the opposite, according to Deep Identity chief executive and technology officer Siva Belasamy.

“Within the IT security domain, we operate in the niche identity management space where we have brought in certain solid differentiators, such as a layered approach with more granular access and data governance,” he told Digital News Asia (DNA) in Singapore.

“We believe such disruptive technologies give us the lead over the competition – and that includes some very large players,” added Siva, who previously worked at US tech giants CA Technologies and Oracle, both of which have a strong IAM business.

Even in such niche areas, opportunities abound, according to Deep Identity director Sivakumar Balasubramaniam, who said, “We saw a solid opportunity in this part of the world.”

“If you see the competition in the marketplace today, there are only a few players within South-East Asia, and we are the only [IAM] product company originating from Asia,” he added.

Challenges

Being in such a niche field did not come without its own set of challenges. To arm itself, Deep Identity looked to independent analysts for validation.

“We like challenges and take pride in our technologies, and to validate this, we have been evaluated by independent external agencies such as Gartner, Forrester and IDC,” Sivakumar (pic) said.

“We are happy that IDA [industry regulator the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore] has evaluated us thoroughly, and after an extensive review, has given us accreditation,” he added.